Saturday, August 25, 2018
A Sometimes Useful Tool
A Sometimes Useful Tool
The other Sunday my daughter and her family visited and I was given an opportunity to get out of the house while they looked after my wife Chris. I decided to go to Super Cheap Auto to get a small clamp I needed and while there I found a Mini Sand Blaster for $39.95 that needs a 30-60 p.s.i. air supply. Now imagine an airbrush that sand blasts and I thought that here is a tool I can use. I must admit I have my fathers disease and I love to collect tools just in case I might need them.
Of course you have to take it home and try it out right away but I had visitors, I got to it later that night. Some years ago I inherited some model trains from Chris uncle and among it there was an original run Model Dockyard C38 that had been stripped of paint and a few brass parts as well after it had been left in the stripper for a number of days. It had remained in this state since then and was very tarnished.
I set up a plastic storage box as a temporary sand blasting cabinet and had a try. Now I thought that some of you would be interested and have a use for one of these so I set up my video camera of the sand blaster in action.
Unfortunately the sand blasting grit is 220 microns (0.22mm) grain size and after I was finished the video I found that the grit had flown out of the box and was everywhere for a half a metre or so. This led me to buy another storage box that had a lid that was reasonably see through and I cut a couple of hand/arm holes into it. I thought about fitting gloves like the real cabinets but figured that not much grit would escape when my arms virtually fill the holes. I also fitted a grommet into the side of the box to allow the hose to come into the box, attaching the sand blaster inside the box. A small bracket is supplied to hang the blaster on so I screwed this to the wall of the box also.
Here are a couple of photos of the cabinet.
The blaster comes with a small container of the grit and I didnt see any other supply at Super Cheap Auto (I will watch for it). I would suggest that you save the used grit for re-use as I am sure that the small amount of brass, etc. wouldnt be a problem. I should mention that the nozzle has a ceramic insert.
I am interested to try this blaster on scenic elements such as ageing wood structures/parts, weathering wagons and perhaps ageing signs on the side of model buildings to name a couple.
If you buy one and come up with some other uses let me know.
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